


Morning has broken

by wanderingsmith



Category: The Expendables (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-18
Packaged: 2018-03-18 05:47:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3558386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderingsmith/pseuds/wanderingsmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I ever tell you I was married?"<br/>Out the corner of his eye, Barney saw Lee's head jerk toward him in obvious shock, "..No."<br/>Barney never looked away from the TV. "Yeah. For six months. I've come to realize, listening to everyone else's stories, that it was a good marriage. Long time ago. Back when if you liked a woman, you could only end up sleeping together and marrying, in some order or other."</p><p>
  <i>..nothing but smut here :)</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I ain't got no money, and nobody'd be daft enough to pay me for this. As it is thought, so let it be said; you make the toys, I play with 'em.
> 
> another that was 90% written long ago.. and just sitting there
> 
> http://www.livescience.com/30638-record-breaking-gobi-desert-trek.html so 3 week trek, say with a caravan they hitched up with in a small town where mission went bad, is not unreasonable

When he came back from an unplanned three week walk through the Gobi desert to find the UPS guy looking for his shirt in his living room, Lee turned around and walked back to Barney's, sending Toll home from nursing duty. When he woke Barney to eat and take a dose of meds for the pneumonia he'd picked up, he didn't give him a chance to start. "You were right. Say it once if you have to but then I don't want to hear a single argument about my watching over you until the fever's gone."

Barney gave him a steady, if fever-bright, look and reached for a hand. When Lee took it, not sure what to expect, he just got a solid hand-grip. "You're welcome to stay however long you want, Lee." And Lee was too grateful for the lack of teasing to refuse the easy answer to an annoyance that had been at the back of mind since he'd woken up in Barney's spare bedroom an hour ago.

The fever took a couple days to break. By then, Lee had gotten his shit from his soon-to-be-ex wife's place and was used to the sounds of Barney's house at night. A couple weeks later, hearing Gunner grumbling about having to look for a new place after scaring a neighbour reminded Lee that he'd need to do that too, once they got back from this rescue job in Odessa. 

But they had another job waiting when they got back. And then another, and another. And then one in Kazakhstan that went sour and they changed each other's gunshot bandages for a week, both silently grateful for the able, friendly, understanding company. 

And somehow, four months later, the few times Lee'd thought about getting a place, and mentioned getting out of his hair, Barney'd shrugged it off; and Lee.. forgot again. There was tea in the cupboard for when he got lost in old memories. His favourite cereal on the counter even though Barney hated it. He was getting completely spoiled by Barney's cooking, and quiet late nights between missions, that weren't spent with the team, more often than not found them slouching back in their armchairs -like old fogies, according to Caesar- with beers and the TV, and neither of them seriously thought about alternative entertainments.

 

This time, Lee knew he wasn't being hospitable. Knew he was snipping and snarling at his buddy who was letting him live in his spare room. Luckily said buddy was a tolerant bastard who responded to insults with a lazy smirk.

Mostly.

"What the fuck's got your panties in that much of a twist, Christmas?"

Lee held out through another minute of inane commercials before the answer snarled its way out. "Horny. Fucking tired of my hand." And he knew he didn't have to say that he wasn't ready to try his hand at fishing again.

The episode of M.A.S.H they'd landed on played on in the silent room.

"I ever tell you I was married?"

 

Out the corner of his eye, Barney saw Lee's head jerk toward him in obvious shock, "..No."

Barney never looked away from the TV. "Yeah. For six months. I've come to realize, listening to everyone else's stories, that it was a good marriage. Long time ago. Back when if you liked a woman, you could only end up sleeping together and marrying, in some order or other."

He looked at Lee, then, wanting him to see the truth in his words, not surprised at his friend's small, confused smile, the caring frown of a man waiting for the punchline so he could respond.

"She was a front line nurse. Met her in Columbia. We liked each other. So we slept together. After maybe 4 months, ..I don't remember if someone got to me or if I just decided on my own that I should ask her to marry me."

"Sounds romantic."

Barney gave him a quick, soft grin for the gentle sarcasm, "Yeah. She wasn't much for romance. Loved her job." He met Lee's eyes calmly, the pain old and long dulled, "She was killed by a mine."

Lee nodded slowly, staring steady back, "Figured something had happened."

Barney nodded. "Thing is, I admired her. Liked her." He stared hard at Lee, "I would have come to love her, I know that, now." Strange as that morphing of feeling felt, sometimes.

The blank stare he got back told him Lee didn't understand what he'd tried to not say outright. "What'd she look like?"

"..Uh. Funny thing, I don't remember." he shrugged, regretting the disrespect a little, he had to admit, "I remember she was tall 'cause the first time we danced, I was thrown off because I'd never danced with someone whose head didn't come to rest on my chest. She was pretty.. I remember the guys on the base thought I was a lucky bastard. I do remember she had a badass workout routine."

"You didn't..." *Now* he caught the start of understanding in Lee's expression.

"I wasn't in lust with her. I liked her. I enjoyed bringing her pleasure. Whether it was an orgasm or her favourite desert that she never bought herself cause it cost too much, didn't make a difference. We had fun talking shop and drinking. Didn't matter that she wasn't what I used to fantasize about; pleasure's pleasure. Friendship is better. Lasts longer, from what I've seen of other people's marriages."

Lee looked away, shame clouding his expression, "Lacy-"

Barney shook his head, regretting the comparison had come up, "I know you were attracted to her. I understand wanting someone to scratch the itch." He hesitated a second, but then shrugged, preferring the full truth, "If you'd really loved her, I'd have found a way to threaten or blackmail her into not breaking your heart. As it was.. I just wished you'd picked someone to have a clean deal with."

The moment of wide-eyed annoyance at hearing his plan faded to an old loneliness. "Hard to find someone who doesn't object to you taking off."

Barney looked away, voice quieting, "So pick someone who's already a friend." Come on Lee, *hear* me....

Lee snorted bitterly, "Not too many women like Maggie."

Barney'd hoped he'd find words to get this conversation to somewhere.. 'useful', but he couldn't think of anything else that wasn't so clear-call that he risked losing... He got up, unhappy he hadn't been able to help his buddy, pasting a blank smile on his face, "Guess not." Strange that Lee'd think Maggie was anything more than a one-time ally, though.

 

Bummed, Lee frowned to himself, still feeling tense and horny; and faintly sad, now, thinking Barney'd lost someone he'd.. well. Cared for, anyway. Been friends.. with.. He froze. 

Friends. *They* were... Wait... Fuck... Was Barney offering.. but he wasn't- 

'Pleasure's pleasure'. With peripheral awareness of the man about to walk past him with faintly drooped shoulders, Lee's arm shot out and grabbed Barney's bicep. Barney didn't respond to the move past holding still, even though Lee couldn't quite come up with what the fuck to say for a solid minute. If he was wrong.. He didn't want to 'ask'... damned old martyr couldn't be trusted to say if that hadn't been what he meant if he thought *Lee*...

But.. he couldn't.. wasn't a coward and wouldn't damn well ignore- "You- are you.. offering.." 

The arm in his grip shifted, restless, but didn't try to get out, even before he gave it a reassuring squeeze; the voice was just a touch too quiet. "Yeah."

For some reason, Lee found himself relaxing at that. The tension that'd been driving him nuts disappearing like smoke and leaving him at ease. He could hear the change in his voice, gone all soft like when they sat around with beers, his hand clumsy as it tried to stroke the arm under it, still staring at Barney's now-empty chair, "Sorry Barney, I'd just never thought about it before."

The lack of verbal response didn't faze him when he could feel Barney's arm relaxed under his touch while he deliberately tried to picture himself... Or picture Barney... what? Just offering him a 'hand'? Or...

He finally gave the arm a light squeeze and let go to stand up, turning to face Barney who'd turned around. He smiled a bit at the familiar hooded gaze, neither smirking nor hiding, just same old calm Barney Ross. Proposing a different kind of crazy plan.

"What happens the next time one of us gets in a jam?" 'Cause he sure as fuck wasn't exchanging their friendship and partnership for even the best one night stand in the fucking universe!

Barney's brow rose, "What happens when any of us is in a pinch now?"

Lee quirked a tired grin, "We all run through fire to the rescue while calling him a fucking moron."

Barney shrugged, but before he could add a comment, Lee stiffened, old buried fury flaring up. He stepped forward to poke a hard finger at the other man's sternum, "We do this, don't you EVER fucking dare use it as reason to brush me off for my safety again! *I* pick my battles, you do NOT try to make my decisions, you hear me, Ross?"

Barney grimaced, looking at the ground, shoulders hunching a bare touch that another person wouldn't have even noticed, "Yeah. I hear you."

Lee glared a solid minute longer; too many damn times he'd been left feeling like shit when Barney threw one of his 'keep you safe' curves. Damned if he'd put up with it on a personal level too. He finally stepped back with a grunt.

"So.. is it as.. *difficult* as it looks?" 

Barney gave him a confused look and Lee grinned, "I still remember a girl, years ago; virgin. Looked so uncomfortable I'd have said never mind if she hadn't looked more scared of fucking."

This time Barney smirked, clearly amused, "It's a little *hard* until you get the knack, yeah."

"And I don't suppose you can explain the knack?"

"Not really. Open your mouth, use your tongue to manoeuvre," he shrugged, "Just takes a bit of practise."

Lee grinned, the challenge of something new trumping the faint 'what the fuck' his mind tried to throw at him. Hell, Barney was.. closer to him than anyone. And he wasn't stupid enough to think this was just pity for his hand, not with the way he'd been leaving the room rather than shrug off the conversation. Maybe, just maybe, he wasn't the only one with an itch. And Barney.. had always been even more alone than Lee; he couldn't... deny the chance to be there for someone who'd offered *him* friendship in a thousand ways. "Let's see."

Barney blinked, ending on a confused frown, "You don't-"

Lee raised a brow and held a hand out flat in 'stop', "If you say I don't have to, I'm gonna sucker-punch you." Damned old martyr.

Barney stared at him hard, but finally chuckled, "Fine. But it's not *my* fuse that's short tonight."

"Probably just as well. Doesn't sound like a short fuse would make it any easier to get the knack."


	2. Chapter 2

He hadn't thought that pointing out getting it up wasn't so instant anymore was showing off. Not until a mouth that was definitely not experienced.. got him so fucking hard so fast that Barney was gripping his sheets and trying *not* to come like a fucking *kid*. "Fuck! Christmas!" When was the last time he'd felt aroused by... God he needed to stop picturing Lee's face as he held Barney's cock and slowly *licked*! Fuck, he should not be making such pitiful noises! Except the damn smart-mouthed brit had figured out how to use his fucking TONGUE and- 

"Fuck! What the hell?" He jerked up on his elbows, straining the cotton of his shirt, opened but then forgotten on his shoulders, to stare down, breathing hard and kicking himself into remembering the half-naked man laying between his legs hadn't done this before, for fuck's sake-

Lee's hand kept its tight grip on his cock as he leaned his head back and to the side, hot skin leaning on the one knee Barney had gotten out of his trousers and then left bent. Bare arms flexed as he leaned on his elbows, his eyes were closed, lips uncharacteristically swollen and parted as he panted at least as hard as Barney, flush running from his cheeks right over his bare skull; a fucking wet-dream come true that made Barney twitch even before he spoke. "Just, give me a sec. Or Christmas is gonna come early."

His blood was in the wrong place and it took a few seconds for that to make sense. When it did, Barney tried to laugh, but it was too fucking close to a groan and he gave up, dropping back, "Hell if I care, Lee. Just..." He tried to avoid outright begging by just thrusting his hips up, but when that wet sucking stroking didn't come back, he caved, "More, please."

That got him what he wanted, but not nearly long enough.

"What happened to hard to light fuse, boss?"

Barney didn't need to see the smirk he heard in that. He threw an arm over his eyes and tried to snarl, "Screw you, Christmas."

Fuckfuckfuck Fuck! Those were *teeth*! Oh but that felt SO fucking good. God yes!

".. Yeah. OK."

Uh? Now what?

Barney dragged himself back to his elbows, shivering and aiming for a glare but feeling a little too dazed to trust his face to be delivering. Lee's pleased grin definitely said he failed. "You-" 'Yeah' to what... oh. This time concern got him control of his face and he did frown, "Lee-"

Lee's free hand snapped up. "Again, and try to remember this time, *old man*. If you say one damn word about not having to I'm going to kick your ass." He raised a brow, smirking, "*After* I'm done with it."

Crap that reaction was too obvious. Especially with Lee's current line of sight.

"But I'd rather *you*.." lips twitching when *that* got him a reaction as well, the brit shrugged uncomfortably, "Would rather the example than the explanation."


	3. Chapter 3

"Quit teasin'!"

The half-whining, half-snarling tone was familiar as hell; the hunger blowing Lee's eyes was anything but. 

But no matter how crazy it drove him to know the man was so susceptible, to have the memory of watching him unravel under Barney's careful, though not nearly 'clinical', touch: he'd damned well *asked* Barney to do this. He growled, sweat sliding down his back with his tensed muscles, "We are doing this *my* way." Even if his clenched jaw broke his teeth to keep in control.

"Fuck. Fuck me, already!" And with that outright snarl, the brit wrapped those dangerously powerful legs around Barney's waist, obviously planning to jerk him the whole fucking rest of the way in.

Barney raised his hands from where he'd been pressing Lee's hands down and grabbed his hips instead, glaring as he shivered from the sound of that broken demand. "Dammit, Christmas!" Stubborn impatient fucking gorgeous bastard! He strained to hold the slow pace as Lee grinned viciously and tightened his legs, thigh and abdominal muscles popping out under sweat-slicked skin. 

Barney couldn't ever remember having to use so much of his strength during sex: every fucking inch of his body tensed to keep him sliding into his lover in *slow* increments. He *knew* it was fucking torture, dammit! But he wasn't going to risk hurting Lee; and he was egotistical enough to want the man to enjoy this to the utmost. If it took torturing them both with this slow pace so he'd be interested -impressed- enough to do this again, Barney could fucking ignore the burning need to just thrust and trust the man's pain threshold to have been skyrocketed by the arousal straining his cock so hard and leaking- 

And then he was finally all the way in and Lee still twitching and growling every few seconds and damned if Barney could keep from pulling almost out and pushing all the smooth fucking way back in, just this side of *hard*, felt so *fucking* good! Almost as good as the shot of triumph watching through what felt like fever haze as shocked pleasure crackled across Lee's wide eyes, a low moan replacing the rough commands. The legs stopped trying to force him and Barney could spare more attention to the incomparable feeling of complete pleasure in the slow thrusts into Lee's tight, demanding body with his eyes locked on Lee's inwardly-focused gaze. Watching and feeling his friend slowly adjust to the pleasure, slowly shifting from simply laying still and shivering through every thrust, to focusing on Barney; and then meeting his thrusts with a clumsy, twisting, counter-push.

It was Barney's turn to moan, his eyes slamming shut for seconds he begrudged losing his view as the flare of pleasure lit through him. Fuck but he was out of practise, out of the habit of real pleasure. 

"Good."

The breathless word carried a far thicker coating of British accent than Lee had had in years, and Barney felt a helpless smile try to twist his lips as he made himself focus. Steady strokes. Controlled and steady and don't fucking let yourself get carried by the rhythm, Barney. Make it good, god so damn good...

 

"Fuck, oh fuck don't stop!" It hadn't taken long for the demands to start up again, and now Lee's body was jerking as Barney stared, transfixed: back arched, face twisted in a mask of hopeless resistance, using the legs around Barney's waist to grind himself violently against Barney's slowly thrusting body until he suddenly froze with a wordless shout.

Barney held motionless, knees dug into the mess of rumpled sheets, hands still tight on Lee's hips. Trying to control his breathing and wait out the pulsing pleasure riding him and making him shake, watching Lee's cock flex and jet white streaks against both their bellies and feeling his own twitch in its tight home. Watched as Lee slowly went boneless and caught his breath, features so relaxed it almost hurt to see. Had to swallow before his throat would let him speak, "You ok?"

"Ok?" Lee's eyes slitted open, mouth slowly stretching, abso-fucking-lutely beautiful with satisfaction and laughter and making the need to thrust arc through Barney's gut, challenging his already challenged control. The knifeman let go his fists in the sheets and lazily slid one on the puddle on his belly before holding the slicked palm up, "I don't think I've ever come that close to screaming during sex. 'Course I'm 'ok'."

It was the voice that got him, gravel and lazy bliss, and those eyes watching him with pleasure... Barney twitched again, harder, shivering, too close for a second, trying to keep still through the flaring need for *more*, wanting this to last; knowing it couldn't. Then Lee's hips shifted deliberately on him, and though Barney *knew* there had been a second of flinch, it didn't last and he couldn't really hold back anyway.

Starting a flowing slide, in and out, slow and steady, dancing with the slicing blade of need and the sharp 'too much' that he kept hitting, his eyes closed, mind totally lost focusing on the feel of Lee's body around his cock, hot, squeezing, tight; dragging him to heaven or hell, he couldn't tell and couldn't care.

 

Lee stared, faintly awed by the focused look of blind pleasure on his old friend's face. Pleasure that came from *him*... he reached up carefully and pulled Barney's head down for a slow, wet, clumsy kiss, trying to ignore the discomfiting feeling of his legs getting too far apart; helpless. 

Except that the sound he swallowed said Barney was the one helpless, even as he fumbled his hands on either side of Lee's head to catch his weight. And the hips that had been barely tapping the back of his thighs, obviously and deliberately gentle, suddenly started hitting hard and *fuck* he could feel that right where he'd still been throbbing with pleasure and he could feel himself hardening again desperately, head jerking back as his body tightened, losing those lips, "Fuck! How the hell can that feel so good??" and since when did he fucking talk so much?? "I might have to kill you for not nailing me to the wall of that bar 15 years ago!"

 

The thought, the *vision*! For one second Barney desperately tried to remember why he'd needed to go easy but he couldn't, not a chance in hell! Lee's voice, Lee's face twisted in pleasure, legs wrapped around him, dingy bar's country music in the background, knowing there were people who would hear- Sweet, fuck, so fucking good, need to come, reach for sweet lips again, tongue, fuck so tight, so good, so- boiling furious pleasure rocketed through and-

 

He could feel the ringing in his ears from some recent too-loud noise. Could feel his biceps shaking like he'd over-strained them and that must be why he was collapsed in such a weird curved-over position.

Could feel.. Lee. Lee- god- he-! Jerking himself fast and tight between their stomachs, and now that his ears cleared Barney could hear the sharp pant of the brit's breath. Without thinking, he tilted his head and sucked at the stubbled throat near his mouth. And felt Lee groan breathlessly as he fell back, fresh wetness spraying Barney's stomach.

Good. So good.

"Yeah. Fucking unbelievable."

The breathless agreement told Barney he'd spoken the thought aloud and he huffed, though of all things to slip on... "That too." He hadn't expected this. A bit of easy no-strings pleasure with a friend seemed already asking a hell of a lot from his luck. Lucky ring never did cover this shit. Jerking each other off at first, maybe *eventually* a quick fuck. Touch that wasn't his own, but was from someone that cared and whose company brought him joy.

But this. Fuck. He could still feel the mellow blanket of afterglow from a fucking unbelievably hard orgasm. And Lee-

As though the thought had made him real, Barney felt him shift and felt a shaft of regret, realizing the stupid position they were in would be ten times worse for the other man. "Hang on." He slowly got his hands on the mattress and gently made his shaking arms push his upper body up. Going slow and careful, he straightened up while Lee watched him, doing his usual piss-poor job of hiding concern for Barney's lingering last batch of bruises, and he felt himself slip out even before Lee's legs dropped to the bed. He was pretty sure the younger man's wince was for the legs that had probably stiffened rather than anything else. 

On the other hand, he wasn't above revenge for all the nagging he put up with. And they were friends first: he wasn't giving that up for anything, let along sex. He slipped a hand down between Lee's legs, watching every change of expression like a hawk. 

"Barney?"

Confusion, embarrassment, small twitch of pain at the first touch near the loose, wet hole. Barney kept watching, ignoring the suspicion rising: Lee knew him too well, and hadn't been that uninformed, even if he hadn't actually had sex with a man before. When he slid a couple fingers halfway in on heated slick, that weird disbelieving look was rooted in pleasure, not pain. He stroked once, gently, to make up for the invasion, then slipped out and let himself drop next to Lee, getting rid of his condom and wiping his hand and crotch with the wet cloth he'd set on the side-table when they were setting up, waiting for the explosion he knew would come.

"WHAT the fuck was that??"

Lee's disbelief didn't make him resist Barney's arms turning him so they faced each other and then wrapping him in a hug before wiping him down too. Reaching back to drop the cloth, hopefully in the garbage, for later washing, Barney let himself relax and find that pleasure haze again, mumbling softly, "Just making sure you're OK."

He was dropping like a rock into sleep when Lee muttered back threateningly, "We'll see how fucking *ok* I can get *you* come morning."

Barney's body twitched at the thought, and he grinned, looking forward to another day the way he hadn't in a hell of a lot of years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha! one old story fully posted! cool!!!


End file.
